Legendary Vancouver baseball pioneer and businessman Nat Bailey headlines a Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame Class for 2013 that includes former star outfielders George Bell and Tim Raines, Canadian-born Major League journeyman Rob Ducey and the late Blue Jays broadcaster Tom Cheek.

Bailey, who died in 1978, was founder of the White Spot restaurant chain. He purchased the Triple-A Vancouver Mounties in the mid-’50s and helped boost the sport’s interest in the city.

“This is great news,” said Mark Bailey Andrews, Bailey’s grandson. “My grandfather did a lot for the baseball community and the kids.”

Bailey was born in St. Paul, Minn., in 1902, and moved to Vancouver as a child. He went on to work at Vancouver’s Athletic Park, doing everything from selling hotdogs and peanuts to announcing the players.

Bailey evolved into a successful restaurateur in B.C. In 1928, he opened Canada’s first drive-in restaurant called White Spot. The restaurant prospered and soon he opened a chain of them across the province. When his restaurants thrived, he used a significant portion of his profits to sponsor little league teams.

In the 1950s, Bailey bought the Triple-A Vancouver Mounties and his commitment to the club over the next decade helped raise interest in professional baseball to new heights in the city. After Bailey’s death in 1978, Capilano Stadium — where the Mounties played — was renamed Nat Bailey Stadium in his honour.

The Canadians, who call “The Nat” home, have won the last two Northwest League championships as the Class-A short-season affiliate of the American League’s Toronto Blue Jays.

Jake Kerr, the Canadians’ managing general partner, called Bailey’s inclusion into the Canadian hall a “very fitting and timely honour.”

“Nat Bailey saved baseball in this city at a time when few could keep the game moving forward,” said Kerr. “From hawking peanuts as a young man in the ’30s to essentially backing those who struggled to keep the game in Vancouver in the ’50s, there is little doubt Nat’s name should be among the greatest names in Canadian baseball history.”

“It’s probably one of those things that people assumed he was already in there,” said Toigo. “It’s not unlike what (former Canucks GM and coach) Pat Quinn went through in getting into the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame this year … people couldn’t believe he wasn’t already in there.”

For his contributions to sports in B.C., Bailey was inducted into the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame in 2003.

As for Raines, he’s still waiting for Cooperstown to call, but the former Montreal Expos outfielder can finally say he’s a Hall of Famer. No players were elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame this year. Raines was fifth in voting conducted by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America with 297 votes (52.2 per cent), finishing short of the 75 per cent required for induction.

“Definitely different types of emotions,” Raines said during a conference call. “The emotions of not getting into the Baseball Hall of Fame is something I’ve been dealing with for five years.

“Getting into the Canadian (Baseball) Hall of Fame ... is the highest honour I’ve gotten since I played professional baseball, so this is a great moment for me and my family. I was ecstatic about it.”

Raines, 53, played left field for six major-league teams from 1979 to 2002, but is best known for his time in Montreal (1979-’90). Nicknamed “Rock,” Raines was a seven-time all-star and two-time World Series champion as a player — he added a third in ’05 as a Chicago White Sox coach — and retired with a career .294 average with 2,605 hits, 170 homers and 808 stolen bases.

Bell, also 53, spent 12 seasons in the majors with Toronto, the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox but enjoyed his best success with the Blue Jays. The native of San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic, was a three-time all-star and won the American League MVP with the Jays in 1987, when Bell enjoyed his best season, hitting .308 with 47 homers and 134 runs-batted in. However, Toronto fell two games short of Detroit in a stirring division title race, which Bell said tarnished his individual accolade. Ducey, a native of Cambridge, Ont., played for both the Blue Jays and Expos during his 19-year professional career.

Cheek, who died in 2005, broadcast 4,306 consecutive Toronto Blue Jays games from the franchise’s first game until June 2, 2004.

With files from The Canadian Press

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